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An interview is presented with professor Don Moore of Berkeley's Haas School of Business in which he discusses how confidence impacts performance. Topics include the implications of overconfidence and false confidence, the risk of underperforming expectations, and his book "Perfectly Confident."

Most diversity training programs are a waste of money, says Iris Bohnet. Companies often conduct programs without ever measuring their impact. And unfortunately, research on their effectiveness shows they seldom change attitudes, let alone behavior. The solution? Focus on processes, not people. Behavioral science tells us that it’s very hard to eliminate our biases, but we can redesign organizations to circumvent them. Behavioral design makes it easier to do the unbiased thing by either preventing biased choices or changing people’s beliefs. Companies can start by collecting data on their current diversity training. Then they must bring the same rigor to people management that they apply to financial and marketing decisions. This means defining the desired change, implementing new programs, collecting hard data, and evaluating the results. Even simple changes can be effective. For example, hiring managers can use software that allows them to strip age, gender, socioeconomic background, and similar information out of résumés so that they focus only on talent. Bias affects everyone, despite efforts at awareness and the best of intentions. The good news, says Bohnet, is that behavioral design can break the link between our gut reactions and our actions, and allow our biased minds to get things right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only recently have we been able to apply science to one of the world's oldest questions: "What is the nature of happiness?" In this edited interview, the author of the 2006 best seller Stumbling on Happiness surveys the field. Gilbert explores the sudden emergence of happiness as a discipline, reviews the major findings (including the mistakes we all make in predicting how happy or miserable we'll be), and examines the role of happiness in productivity on the job. He describes what makes us truly happy--it's not a promotion or a new house--and sketches out a "happiness diet" that emphasizes small, routine efforts. Looking forward, Gilbert discusses the breakthrough work of his colleague Matthew Killingsworth, whose iPhone-enabled real-time surveys of people's moods are providing an ultra-high-resolution picture of how our emotional states shift from minute to minute. A sidebar by Killingsworth offers a preliminary look at his findings and their implications for our personal and workplace lives. INSET: The Future Of Happiness Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Johnson joined Apple, in 2000, as the senior vice president for retail, conventional wisdom held that a computer maker couldn't sell computers. Johnson promptly tossed out the retailing rule book and built the Apple Store from scratch. "The Apple Store succeeded not because we tweaked the traditional model," Johnson says. "We reimagined everything." Today, Apple stores are the highest performing stores in the history of retailing. In November, Johnson took the reins as CEO of the venerable J.C. Penney department store. Times are tough for many retailers, but Johnson, characteristically, sees the chance to reinvent the department store as a great opportunity. He also understands the challenges ahead. "A store has got to be much more than a place to acquire merchandise," he says. "It's got to help people enrich their lives." In this edited interview, Johnson discusses his vision of the future of retail and shares insights about innovation, leadership, and why he trusts his gut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Don Moore, professor at the Haas School of Business, is presented. Moore discusses his research on the relationship between confidence and performance, the implications of false confidence and failure, and presents ways to bring confidence in line with reality.

HBR's editors searched for the best new ideas related to the practice of management and came up with a collection that is as diverse as it is provocative. The 2004 HBR List includes emergent concepts from biology, network science, management theory, and more. A few highlights: Richard Florida wonders why U.S. society doesn't seem to be thinking about the flow of people as the key to America's advantage in the "creative age." Diane L. Coutu describes how the revolution in neurosciences will have a major impact on business-Clayton M. Christensen explains the law of conservation of attractive profits: When attractive profits disappear at one stage in the value chain because a product becomes commoditized, the opportunity to earn attractive profits with proprietary products usually emerges at an adjacent stage. Joel Kurtzman asks where the "stupid money" is headed. Robert Sutton reports on the emergence of "no asshole"-excuse the crude language-rules, Daniel H. Pink explains why the master of fine arts is the new MBA. Joseph Fuller asks whether the useful life of the public company is over. Herminia Ibarra describes how companies can get the most out of managers returning from leadership-development programs. Iqbal Quadir suggests a radical fix for the third world's trade problems: Get the World Bank to lend to rich countries so that there are resources for retraining workers in dying industries. Clay Shirky describes how technology will allow companies to get vast amounts of real-time data from social networks. Thomas A. Stewart shows how jokes constitute a trove of information about what's really going on in a company And Ray Kurzweil makes the case that while high-tech stocks have seesawed, technology has marched steadily forward-and will continue to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During his nine years as the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator, Daniel Goldin applied a management style his critics have called 'pushy,' 'impatient,' 'aggressive,' and 'predicted primarily on gut-wrenching change.' Although he had outspoken detractors, Goldin is credited with transforming NASA from a lumbering, risk-averse behemoth into a lean, fast, model government agency. The 'National Journal' named him one of the 100 most influential people in government, citing his reputation among space watchers as a brilliant visionary who brought NASA back from the brink. Since his departure from the agency in the fall, Goldin has become a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Competitiveness. In a recent conversation with HBR's Gardiner Morse, Goldin discussed his controversial style and the lessons NASA's turnaround holds for the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with chief digital officer of engineering corporation ABB Inc. Guido Jouret is presented. He discusses the growing use of augmented reality, its possible application in autonomous vehicles, as well as the expectations that businesses have for the technology.

An interview with consumer goods firm Unilever chief marketing officer (CMO) Keith Weed is presented, in which he talks about such topics as his responsibilities as CMO, business marketing, and sustainability in business.

The article discusses the 10 innovations that will transform medicine if they can prove themselves and make it into the mainstream, including payment innovations, evidence-based decision making, and virtual visits.